15 Excellent Facts About David Bowie To Remind You Of His Genius

Today is Bowie's birthday. He may have gone, but his music lives on. Let's celebrate the genius of the Thin White Duke with some Bowiefacts.

1. The Buddha Of Suburbia

Bowie's real name is David Robert Jones.

2. Absolute Beginners

His first band was called The Konrads and featured Bowie on Saxophone.

3. Under Pressure

His self-titled debut album was released in 1967 and was a commercial flop. It would be two years before he released another LP.

4. Look Back In Anger

As a struggling performer in the late 1960s, Bowie auditioned for a part in an advert for Kit Kats. He was rejected.

5. Oh! You Pretty Things

Bowie's first film was The Image in 1969, playing a ghostly figure that emerges from a painting.

6. "Heroes"

Bowie claimed his Ziggy Stardust persona was based on seeing Lou Reed and Iggy Pop perform live in America in 1971.

7. Golden Years

Bowie tried to give Elvis Presley the track Golden Years, but The King turned it down.

8. Ziggy Stardust

Bowie famously announced he was retiring his Ziggy Stardust character at a show at London's Hammersmith Odeon on 3 July 1973. He hadn't told the rest of the band.

9. A New Career In A New Town

In 1976, following a period of over-indulgence and general paranoia, Bowie moved to West Berlin and hung out with his mate Iggy Pop. The result was four albums: Bowie's Low and "Heroes" and Iggy's The Idiot and Lust For Life.

10. Cracked Actor

Following the release of his album Scary Monsters in 1980 and the No 1 hit Ashes To Ashes, Bowie played the part of John Merrick in The Elephant Man on stage on Broadway.

11. Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)

The 1981 German film Christiane F tells the story of a number of teenage heroin addicts in Berlin and features footage of Bowie in concert - although the gig actually took place in New York.

12. The Laughing Gnome

Bowie's character in the movie Labyrinth is called Jareth. He's a Goblin King.

13. Rock And Roll Suicide

Bowie's late 80s/early 90s "supergroup", Tin Machine, featured guitarist Reeves Gabrels (now playing with The Cure) and Hunt and Tony Sales, who had formed part of Iggy Pop's band on the Lust For Life album.

14. Ashes To Ashes

In 1997, Bowie issued "Bowie Bonds": allowing purchasers to gain revenue from Bowie's album royalties. The expired in 2007, so don't buy any. BBC finance expert Evan Davis claimed that this sort of thing kicked off the credit crunch and the recession.

15. John, I'm Only Dancing

At a gig in Oslo, Norway on 18 June 2004, Bowie was hit in the eye by a lollipop thrown by an audience member. The tour was cancelled shortly after when it turned out he was suffering from a blocked artery - it was to be his last tour.